Station

This is the station I use everyday. Time schedule is not reliable and they rarely check your tickets. Tonight is no soul so that I feel like this may lead me to Auschwitz or somewhere scary place....!!!


The tiny flight company, BMI baby again! It's a funny advert, isn't it?

Where's the bin bag???

City Centre

Birmingham city has canals and a Ferris wheel. Both are within 15 min walk from my house.

People say the dark and cold winter is coming soon, but today is very sunny and warm day here! Here's more shots of city centre, high street.

Oxford

Oxford is just one hour by train from Bham and I went there to attend to some research meeting. Oxford is so different from Birmingham and I think its very special place for every uni students and researchers.

We spent 3 days there and all packed from early morning and till late with beers in a campus pub in a part of University of Oxford!!!

Cyclist and Suneo

This country, you can get on the train with your own bike. Surprise!

I'm sure most of viewers here know one of Japanese famous animations, "DORAEMON". I found this in the nearest station of my house. It's SUNEO kun (Sune chan)!!! I can see him every morning here, hehe!

First cook in my new flat

Staying in the hotel for ten days while working, it's so much stressful. In the end, I got my own flat. Even though I still don't have Table, TV, phone, bed mattress, I am very happy now. These are my first cooking in my new flat, Spagetti pomodoro and Spanish Omlet!!! Tesco is within 5 min walk from my house and always cheap. Great!

The University of Birmingham

This is a symbol of university.


These are my office and research room. Can you see my tiny iBook on my desk?

Fly to UK

After 24 hrs delay, my flight was launched! Waiting for 8 hrs in Singapore and 3 hrs in Amsterdom for transit. Finally I'm in Birmingham!!!

I saw many cheap flights, like Ryan, Easy Jet, Thompson, but BMI baby is so cute!!!

Typhoon

This is the image of typhoon core and we're actually in the core like these below,

Due to this huge typhoon, my flight was cancel. What a fantastic start of my trip is!!!

The last summer in Japan

Oops, these are my memories in August in Japan.

Isla de salsa in Noko Island
Thanks to my all friends and the Elboraccho owner, Su-san!

Mt.Sakurajima and To-mi Banzan in Ijuin
These places always make me encouraged before I go to the next big step!

Aquarium
Since I was born, I've been living near beach and bay side.

かに食べ放題
My colleague asked me what I wanted to eat for the last in Japan before I move to UK", so I said "Kani (Crabs)"!!! We ate incredible amount of crabs at that night.

Intermission

Finally my project was accepted. It took so long time. Thanks for all your support. Need a break before I go to the next.

Good bye Osi chan!

The cutest girl in Fukuoka is going back to her country. Natto, Kaki-P, Yukata....we all miss you, Osi!

JHAR at Early Believers

The last our gig was hold on tonight. The sound was great, the atomosphere was excellent and the stage light was so hot!!! Started from Irish style of instrumental intro, via Shannon's beautiful new song, and reached out James' hit songs included in "Just another cigarette". I was so happy to spend wonderful time with all of you. Thank you for coming even in the late night of weekday!　皆さん、本当にありがとう！
For more article and photos,

click here

Yamakasa

Hakata Gion Yamakasa is an annual summer festival held from July 1 to 15 by Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka City with a history stretching back over 750 years.

Summer in Hakata starts with the Yamakasa as beautifully decorated kazari-yama (decorative floats) made by the masters of Hakata ningyo doll production are shown at different places around the city on July 1st.


In 1241, to drive away an epidemic in Hakata, a high-ranking priest was carried by local residents around the town on a shelf and sprinkled holy water along the way. The Hakata Gion Yamakasa of today evolved from this event.

The origin of the Yamakasa festival dates back to the Kamakura period when, unlike now, 15m high decorated floats were also carried. Floats were divided into 2 types in the later Meiji era due to obstacles such as electric wires posing safety risks; one type being for kazariyama (display) and the other type for kakiyama (carrying). Even though the weight of one kakiyama float is around 1 ton, each float is successfully carried by teams of 300 men taking turns as the floats compete for the best time possible in covering a 5-km course.

The climax of the festival is "Oiyama," which starts from 4.59am on the 15th and sees floats rushing around the town as they are incessantly bombarded with water and cheered on by ecstatic crowds on the streets.

Noted; Its for mens' festival. Women are not allowed to entry, even though women are not allowed to enter their team meeting! But I know they support their husbands in every way...!

Beyond the Sorrow

Mt.Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepalese, Chomolangma in Tibetan) 8,850m

The time has come to say good-bye to my grandfather. He named me after the first woman to climb Mt.Everest. 28 yrs later, when I came to see this mountain in Nepal, it was just too great and frightening. Climb every montain? Hmm...have to think about the route. Anyway I found one thing in these hard times. That's the more sorrow people get, the more kind to the others people can be. And life still keeps going on.

To Read or Not To Read

Only two posts in May.....what a busiest month it was in my life! And what a wonderful start of my thirties it IS! Just want to have a rest like lying in my bed for reading books.


Ouch, these are too many books to read and make me feel discouraged again.

Concert on the Rock II

Photo was taken by Rie.

Thank you everybody for coming to the Concert on the Rock II in Oita. I really appreciate all of you and I had a great time with you. And thank you so much for celabrating on my birthday there.

It's a pity there's few photos in my camera, but you can also enjoy other fantastic photos of this concert in James' music blog.

click here

Golden Week

That's my Golden week holidays this year.



Aso, Kusasenri in Kumamoto. To see an active volcano involved by incredible traffic jam.

Kagoshima central station. To see my family, relatives and old friends in the rain.



Kuju in Oita. To take a wild Onsen and enjoy driving mountain area. Kuju always makes me in peace.

The Mysterious Universe

Today I found that I ran out of shampoo while taking a shower. Then I looked into the inside of shampoo's bottle, there's the small mysterious space made by shampoo babbles. It seems like a neuron network, but also seems like the small universe!

So I ran to my desk to get a camera and back to the bathroom in naked to take a photo of it. (Because I could not wait any moments since the babbles get disappered by seconds!!!) But I found "what the hell am I doing in naked!?" "Damn, I need to be cool down." So I took a shower again.

I don't want to be hit by earthquake while taking a shower, seriously.